Assistance

The Wilma Theater starts 2013 with guest director David Kennedy’s staging of the workplace comedy Assistance. The second installment in playwright Leslye Headland’s “Seven Deadly Sins” series, Assistance is set in the Manhattan headquarters of a corporation led by a tycoon so tyrannical, he makes Donald Trump look reasonable. Instead of focusing on the boss (who remains an unseen but no less domineering force), Headland’s off-Broadway hit focuses on the young employees Nick and Nora. In normal circumstances, the young underlings might cultivate dreams of climbing the corporate ladder, but in their current hellish job, the goal is to simply survive the day with their careers and dignity intact. Kennedy’s direction of last season’s unique comedy The Understudy was a surprise hit for the Wilma, and Headland’s quirky, insecure characters in Assistance (which NBC recently announced will be developed into a TV series produced by Will Ferrell) should suit Kennedy’s talents well. -J. Cooper Robb